My invention relates generally to electric lamps, and more specifically to a unitary combination of two or more lamp units of different functions. Still more specifically, my invention concerns such a combination lamp assembly of aesthetically favorable appearance suitable for use on motor vehicles, particularly on passenger cars, among other applications.
Motor vehicles today, passenger cars in particular, are furnished with a myriad of lighting devices intended for distinctly different functions. Such lighting devices include headlamps, turn signal lamps, tail lamps, stop lamps, backup lamps, etc. All these lighting devices are mounted in prescribed positions on the vehicle, and are to glow in prescribed colors, to perform the familiar functions for which they are intended.
The current trend of passenger car design is such that the lighting devices play an important part in the enhancement of the total aesthetic appeal of the car. Lighting devices merely designed for a fulfillment of the ultilitarian functions are unsatisfactory or, in some instances, objectionable from an aesthetic point of view. Some car designers strongly object to many lamp units of different colors mounted to the rear of the vehicle. The different colors of the many lamp units can ruin the total color scheme of the car. This is particularly so because the colors of such lamp units have conventionally remained the same both when they are lit up and unlit. Although the lamps must glow in the prescribed colors, they should desirably be more monochromatic when unlit. There have indeed been strong demands from the automotive industry for vehicle lamp assemblies that look like a single unit when unlit but which can glow in different colors to perform different lamp functions.